Birthday surprises

Ooh, I was good. I really pulled off the secrecy perfectly.

Tony & I haven't had a night away since mid 2006 (well, he has for work). I had it all planned for one night of peace and relaxation.

I booked a hotel room in a swanky, posh country hotel back in November. Dinner, bed and breakfast, 4 poster bed! The day after, I took Ben for his ortho appointment and the doctor gave me the date for Jack's postponed surgery on his foot - January 16th! I deliberated and asked them to change it. Luckily the next date was only two weeks later, if it had been longer I'd have just cancelled the hotel. Good job actually as Jack was terribly sick over christmas and had another g-tube infection. It is just about cleared up now so he should be good to go by the 30th (please!)

Anyway.

Made sure he took 2 days holiday from work - check.
Hotel - check.
Mam on standby for babysitting - check.
Reservation double checked - check.
Suitcase packed the day before departure when Tony was at work and put back on top of wardrobe so didn't look out of place - check.
Schedule for kids written up, talk about complicated - check.
A few small gifts wrapped for his "birthday" - check.
Map/reservation printed - check.

On the morning, we did his gifts and cards before Jack went to school and just waited for my mam to come from work. I needed a reason to actually get him there as I wanted to spring the surprise last minute. So, I texted my sister to say I was going to ring her and pretend to ask where would be a good place to go for lunch. I rang, tried to play cool while she's laughing on the other end of the phone and winding me up about the 4 poster bed. "Is it? Linden Hall? I dunno where that is... Tony, do you know where that is?" Ha, ha. So I strung him a line about the apparently had a reasonable lunch menu and secretly put the case in the car while he was distracted.

I couldn't pack the toiletries until literally last minute otherwise he'd definitely have noticed. There was a small panic where he was looking for his new shirt to wear (which I had packed!), I was sure I'd get rumbled so just pushed him to choose something else as I was hungry. My mam came, Tony thought she was just coming for the afternoon so we could have lunch, I asked him to make Ben a bottle and then whipped everything out of the bathroom into a bag and stealthily made it to the car, then pushed him out the door.

It wasn't far away, so we had a nice drive and as we turned off to the hotel (or pub as I was leading him to believe we were going), we approached the hotel. Very impressive building and grounds. I joked "I hope Rachel's idea of reasonable is the same as ours, it might be out of our league here" and we pulled into the car park. The hotel was off to one side and the restaurant/pub to the other, he started to walk for the pub and I said "No, this way". "What?". "Surprise!!". He was gobsmacked.

I did good, he didn't suspect a thing :)

It was quite a cold and rainy day, but it couldn't have been more perfect. We had nothing to do, which is just what I wanted! Simple peace and relaxation. We got the the hotel door and the concierge opened it for us. He was dressed like a butler. I know this is common place in the US, but it isn't typical here. We checked in and he carried our bags, again not typical so I panicked a bit as I didn't have cash and didn't know if I was supposed to tip him, but he showed us around, dropped our bags and took off with no hesitation so I don't think we could have tipped him if we wanted to. And get this - the key to the door was a...gasp...key! Haven't seen that for years. We usually stay in city hotels so have those swipe card things.

Our room was ground floor overlooking the gardens/grounds, it was silent. We set our things down and went to look around the hotel. They had huge drawing rooms with real open log fires. Huge, not these little pretend ones. I mean, this used to be someone's house! It was a bit too nice, I was falling asleep reading my book with the warmth.

I also had the best night's sleep in a long time. Usually hotel beds are uncomfortable, or the pillow isn't right, or the light shines under the door, or you hear traffic, blah, blah. It was pitch black (which I love!!), so quiet and the bed was just to die for. I set my alarm for 8.30 (!!!!!!!) for breakfast. I was shocked when it went off as it seemed like it was only 5am.

So, I'm recharged. One evening did the world of good for us, we connected. Of course I missed the kids, but it was nice to be *me* without having the be in mother mode. It was comparably expensive for our usual choices, but worth every penny. I would definitely like to go back. If I did, I'd remember to bring our swimming costumes as I forgot and we couldn't take advantage of their pool/steam room/leisure facilities. Bummer.

I know this post is very boring and far too long, but it's been a while since we had any luxury and I want to remember this feel good feeling. It was just bizarre as there were little cards in the room saying "Please call room service for milk, ice, etc" and we're not used to being waited on so felt a bit guilty for people just bringing it to us :)

We have a sitter!

Ben got into a sitting position by himself for the first time today. Yay.

He's really good at sitting if I sit him up and I know he should have been able to get up for a while now, but he was always going to be a little delayed. I just arranged an appointment for someone to come out next week to check him out regarding his gross motor skills as I was getting concerned.

He was lying on his back while I was getting Katie ready for bed, he rolled over, more getting ready, then all of a sudden I looked over and he was sitting up! He'd tried to get up into a crawling position and just kept going until he was up.

He is soooooo close to crawling, so close. He'll get one knee forward and just grin, then go back to the floor, or spin around, or go backwards. He's trying really hard so I bet now I've made the appointment he'll be crawling by the weekend ;-).

He's since done it a few more times. Go Ben.

Happy Birthday

To my husband.

I love you.

I hate my oven.

That is all.

Number ones in history

Inspired by Tiburon and Flashback Charts.

The number one song in the USA on the day I was born was "Tonight's The Night (Gonna Be Alright" by Rod Stewart.

On Tony's birthday (tomorrow) - "The Twist" by Chubby Checker. Hahahaha, he's gonna kill me as that shows his age!

On my wedding day - "Dilemma" by Nelly.

When Jack was born - "Baby Boy" by Beyonce. How apt :)

When Katie was born - "We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey.

When Ben was born - "What Goes Around...Comes Around" by Justin Timberland.


And in the UK, Number 1s.

My birthday - "When A Child Is Born" by Johnny Mathis (I knew that, it has always been "my song").

Tony's birthday - "The Young Ones" by Cliff Richard. Hahaha again.

My wedding day - "The Tide Is High" by Atomic Kitten.

Jack's birthday - "Slow" by Kylie Minogue.

Katie's birthday - "Ghetto Gospel" by 2Pac ft Elton John.

Ben's birthday - "Grace Kelly" by Mika.

Good time

Katie had a brilliant time at playgroup, she just jumped right in. She was in heaven at the water table :). She did really well mixing in - she is still on the young side of the age group and so you could tell she was a little less able to control her impulses and copy "naughty" behaviour (running, banging), but for her first day, I'm really happy. She just played with the other kids for the most part, but began to get a bit tried towards the end - she's never been anywhere for 3 hours - and was looking for me a couple of times.

She went in underwear, she's been doing brilliantly. No accidents. Still a mixture of me asking/telling her to go to the toilet and her telling me, but she's taking over. She hasn't worn a nappy for a whole week, except overnight bedtime. This is from absolute hysterics even two weeks ago if I sat her on the potty or asked if she wanted to try so the change has all been within herself and she has initiated it. Got to tell you, going from 3 kids in nappies to two is marvellous!

Plan on Friday is to go with her for just 30 minutes and then I'll leave, see how she gets on, then she starts on her own next Monday. The session is in one big hall, but they did story time in another room near the end and I just let her go without me. When they came back, all the kids were holding hands in a line and she was smiling her face off. So cute!!!

It starts

So...I got my treadmill back from my brother yesterday. New week, new start - today is my first day of really trying to make a difference. I haven't taken any formal exercise since before Katie was born. Actually, who am I kidding, I haven't done any exercise full stop. That changes from today. I hate the way I look and feel and even though I just did my first session and I'm knackered, I know in an hour or so I'll be feeling rejuvenated and over the weeks to come if I see some difference in my body I'll be very happy with the changes, physically and mentally. I used to belong to a gym years ago, but I didn't like the exhibition, so I'll just be using my treadmill at home and add in some stretches and toning exercises.

I have an easy running programme that has worked for me in the past and will gently get me back in the swing of things. Today I did run one minute, walk one minutes x 10, so 20 minutes in total. An unimpressive 1.8 miles covered and 72 calories. How depressing is that?! That's not even enough to cover one finger of Twix chocolate. That will certainly make me think twice about what I'm eating if I can change my thinking "do I really want to spend 30 minutes running for the sake of a few biscuits? Nope!" :). I'm going to be my normal anal self and keep a spreadsheet to track my progress and compare my "scores" to the last time I did this. I know I pushed myself harder last time just so I could do better than the previous time (I think this is my 4th time).

Ideally, I would love to get to 9.5 stone (133lb), but realistically if I can just break that 10 stone (139lb) barrier I will be happy. I'm not overly worried about the actual weight since I know muscle weighs heavier than fat but takes up less room, blah blah, I just want to look and feel good and get down a dress size or 2.

Big day tomorrow

Katie has her first day at playgroup tomorrow. She will be attending 9-12 on Monday's and Friday's. For her first week, they like the parent to stay, but from then on, she'll be on her own. We've done toddler groups together, but she has never done anything without me yet - apart from when she's with family. She really is growing up. She's done very well with her potty training, so I'm happy to let her go in underwear and see how she gets on, I'm sure they are used to it with the age of kids they have. I think she'll be ok. I'd imagine she'll be a bit nervous when I first leave, but she'll soon forget about me. I'm looking forward to spending some time with Ben and maybe I'll even make that doctor's appointment for myself that I've been meaning to for the past 6 months!

First word!

Ben has been babbling for a while, with no specific words. He does lovely vowels and some repeat consonants, but nothing I would class as a word, not even mama or dada.

However, last night there was a definite, clear "hiya". I kept saying it back and he kept repeating it back. So cute!! Wish I'd have my camera to video him since he won't do it today, but he wouldn't stop saying it last night. It sounded so adorable.

Concerts

I am astounded by Tib's list!

The only concert I have been to was Meatloaf. Twice - different years.

I have seen a few musicals though.

The Phantom of the Opera x 2. London.
The Phantom of the Opera. New York!!!
Les Miserables. London.
Les Miserables. Newcastle.
Miss Saigon. Edinburgh.
Miss Saigon. Newcastle.
Saturday Night Fever. Edinburgh.